Nokia is working on a CDMA variant of its Lumia 800 smartphone, the 800c. The phone is due to launch on China Telecom sometime in March, WPCentral learned. It will be available in cyan, white, and black, though pricing is yet to be announced.
China Telecom sub-label Beijing Telecom stated Tuesday local time that a China Telecom-native iPhone 4S was expected within about a month. It said the CDMA version would "likely" reach the network by late February or early March, China Daily said. Apple's device had already been given regulatory clearance for China Telecom's network and would face few barriers.
Apple will likely sign iPhone deals with both China Telecom and China Mobile "over the next year," adding up to 40 million more iPhone sales in 2013, argues Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty. The iPhone is already available on China Unicom, but Huberty suggests that the carrier can only offer Apple 10 percent of a group of about 150 million "high-end Chinese subscribers," those being people who pay more than 100RMB ($16) per month. Of that selection, about 120 million are said to be with China Mobile, and a remaining 10 percent with China Telecom.
The China Radio Management agency has approved an iPhone compatible with carrier China Telecom, the Wall Street Journal reports. The device is officially identified only by a model number, A1387, but is listed as CDMA-2000 compatible. The standard is the same used by Telecom and many other CDMA carriers around the world, such as Sprint and Verizon.
Samsung in a rare move for itself has brought out a unique, China-first Android phone. The W999 looks like a basic Japanese keitai clamshell but has Android 2.3 inside and a dual-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon MSM8660 chip to give it full speed. Both the inside and outside have 3.5-inch, 480x800 Super AMOLED displays and full Android controls, letting the owner fully control Android whether it's open or closed.
Motorola recently introduced two Android 2.3 smartphones due for release in China. The XT928 and MT917 share hardware specs that are an upgrade even over recent devices, using the same 1.2GHz dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM but with a new 4.5-inch, 1280x720 display and an upgraded 13-megapixel camera capable of shooting 1080p video. There is also a 1.3-megapixel camera up front.
China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology was reported on Monday as having approved the iPhone 4S for sale in China. The HSPA 3G version of the phone has passed government tests, clearing it for sale on China Unicom. It should get a network license this week, Sina claimed.
China's biggest fixed-line provider, China Telecom, plans to launch cellphone service in the US early next year, its Americas president Donald Tan said in an interview. He told Bloomberg the carrier will do so under its own brand and be unique in that it will offer two lines, one for the US and another for China. The ideal customer would be a Chinese-American, but it would also include students and tourists who travel often between the US and China.
A China Telecom iPhone will probably have to wait until 2012, says UBS' Jinjin Wang. The analyst quotes checks with value chain suppliers, which allegedly point to a launch no earlier than February or March of 2012. The phone could come out as late mid-2012, Wang suggests. If so, the timing could mean that there will be no Telecom iPhone until Apple launches a next-generation device, although that would also assume the company plans to return to a summer release schedule.
China Mobile chairman Wang Jianzhou disclosed at ITU World on Monday that China Mobile had over 10 million unofficial iPhone users. He hinted that Apple hadn't reached a deal for the iPhone 4S but hadn't had problems attracting users, even with full-price unlocked devices. China Unicom is the only official Chinese carrier in the country.
Apple has narrowed down its iPhone 5 introduction event to October 4, insiders detailed Wednesday. The event is understood by AllThingsD to presage the release of the new device within "a few weeks" of the appearance, most likely in the first half of October. Contacts have also had Tim Cook presiding over the event, marking the first event Cook will oversee since Steve Jobs resigned as CEO.
China Telecom may have an all-out marketing campaign for its iPhone 5 launch if details given by a purported corporate insider. Referred to as the "Dragon Plan" by the Southern Metropolis Daily newspaper, it would see the second-largest Chinese carrier spend the equivalent of $234.6 million to market Apple's hardware. Pre-orders would start in September with the expected release in October.
Repeated references to a dual-mode iPhone 5 were borne out late Monday after a developer mentioned that it had been showing up in app logs. A small batch of users have been tracked while running two carriers. One of those seen by TechCrunch attached itself to both AT&T and Verizon, which wouldn't be possible on the current models.
An unusually vociferous response Friday insisted that the iPhone 5 would ship in October. Digging back to "several sources" led to being told that Apple's latest would miss September. The AllThingsD clue lacked a specific unveiling date, but earlier claims it wouldn't be September 7 were purportedly accurate.
Ticonderoga Securities analyst Brian White pointed to a possible clue that Apple had largely finalized a deal for the iPhone 5 on China Telecom. Pointing to a Sohu news post, he understood the carrier had reached a "preliminary agreement" to carry two different versions of the iPhone as early as late October. The designs would include the genuinely new iPhone as well as the cheaper iPhone 4 version to help counter low-end Android.
Verizon COO and soon-to-be CEO Lowell McAdam during the conference call for spring results said his company was anticipating the next iPhone's launch in the fall. Although he claimed Verizon didn't know when the new model would ship, the carrier was planning for a "significant jump" in business during the fall. Verizon had anticipated a release in the summer but didn't get that.
At least China Unicom and China Telecom will be carrying the next-generation iPhone, claims Caixin. The Chinese analysis firm quotes an unidentified source. It adds though that China Mobile -- the world's largest cellphone carrier, with over 611 million subscribers -- will not be the first in the country to sell the new device.
A late-night leak Tuesday has backed China Telecom carrying the iPhone by "close" to the end of 2011. Thanks to the existence of CDMA models, the company has all the technology and just needs to complete a deal. One Reuters tip warned that Apple's often strict negotiations didn't guarantee a deal, but another had the release narrowed down to November.
Motorola's Droid 3 was given an effective full reveal through the launch of its international version in China. Called "the third Milestone" or the XT883, the Android 2.3 headliner is Motorola's first dual-core slider and uses a TI OMAP4430 chip underneath. Veteran owners get genuine functional upgrades with a four-inch, 540x960 display and a fifth keyboard row with dedicated number keys.
China Unicom president Lu Yimin told investors late Tuesday that his company had started offering an ultra low-cost iPhone plan. The 66 yuan ($10) plan was about a third cheaper than before and designed to curb moves from other carriers. Company CEO Chang Xiaobing saw a "trend" towards rival carriers offering services with unlocked iPhones, according to Bloomberg's version of events.
China Telecom partly put to bed rumors of a deal with Apple by acknowledging that it was in talks for the iPhone. Chairman Wang Xiaochu said his company was "in touch" for a possible deal but couldn't say how far along any deal might be. The current carrier, China Unicom, has an exclusive that ends this year.
SK Telecom on Tuesday confirmed earlier tips and said it would carry the iPhone 4 on March 16. The Korean carrier will be just the second with an iPhone in the country. Its deal ends KT's technical exclusive for the iPhone, which was dictated mostly by its use of GSM.
SK Telecom could get the CDMA iPhone 4 next month in what could be a significant shift in the Korean cellphone industry, according to claims from the field. The largest Korean carrier is supposedly in "final stage" talks with Apple to have the phone in March. The deal is claimed by Yonhap's contact to be "going smoothly" and all but certain to happen on time.
Apple and China Telecom appear to be closer to signing an iPhone distribution deal, says Ticonderoga Securities' Brian White. The analyst points to a NetEase claim that one branch of China Telecom has started accepting pre-orders for a CDMA iPhone. He also mentions a microblog post believed to have been made by a China Telecom worker, stating that the CDMA iPhone 4 has made its "first call in China."
The iPhone has had an "extraordinary" reception in Asia, "on par with the US some cases," according to analysts Toni Sacconaghi and Sanford Bernstein of Bernstein Research. The pair point to recent IDC data in particular, which indicates that the iPhone now forms 12 percent of all Japanese cellphone sales, not just smartphones. Given momentum and plans to open 20 more Chinese Apple Stores in 2011, it's inevitable that the iPhone will come to more Asian carriers, Sacconaghi argues.
The CDMA iPhone should reach beyond the Verizon model in the States to land at some of the most important Asian carriers, part suppliers may have revealed. Noting that only Foxconn-made models would go to Verizon, the insiders added that Apple's new contractor Pegatron would be making the new version for additional carriers in China, Japan and South Korea. The Digitimes claim didn't say when these countries would get the new model.
Apple is optimistic for not just its Verizon iPhone plans in early 2011 but for its regular GSM iPhones as well, part suppliers claimed on Monday. The company reportedly plans to ship five to six million CDMA iPhones between January and March, but has also increased its production of regular iPhones from 13 million to 15 million, giving it as much as 21 million shipments. The CDMA version also wouldn't be exclusive to Verizon as Digitimes has put it shipping in the US and Asia-Pacific.
Samsung has just announced a unique handset in China, the W899. The flip phone sports Android 2.2 but, unusually, gets dual Super AMOLED touchscreens on the flip portion. Each screen is sized at 3.3 inches and has the same 480x800 resolution.
(Update: more Pegatron leaks) Foxconn has been brought on to help take some of the production workload for the CDMA iPhone, industry contacts believed on Wednesday. Known in China through its parent label Hon Hai, Foxconn has reportedly been asked to share manufacturing "evenly" with the existing manufacturer Pegatron. The Taiwan Economic News suggests that Foxconn alone has been asked to make 15 million iPhones through all of 2011; by extension, as many as 30 million CDMA iPhones would be made across the two companies.
The appearance of what's claimed to be a CDMA iPhone prototype has raised the possibility that it might be a dual-mode CDMA/GSM phone. We've heard rumors to the contrary, however, and Electronista has reason to believe that Apple's handset is indeed CDMA-only. Read on to learn the relatively simple explanation and how Apple may sell the CDMA iPhone outside of the US.
A Deutsche Bank analyst fueled further talk of a CDMA iPhone with word of a possible China Telecom deal in a research note reported today. "Intensive" supplier checks purportedly showed that the second-largest Chinese carrier was talking not only to Apple but to the CDMA chipset supplier, Qualcomm, to guarantee a deal, according to the South China Morning Post's copy of the note. It wasn't said how close a deal might be or whether there would be any changes to the rumored American design.
Pegatron has been identified tonight in a story as the contractor making over three million CDMA iPhones at the end of the year. The Taiwan firm would start in November and make at least three million to four million iPhones in its first three months. Production would top 10 million by mid-2011, according to DigiTimes' contacts.
Susquehanna analyst Jeffrey Fidacaro today claimed in a research note that Apple will make three million CDMA iPhones in December. Checks with Asian suppliers led him to believe the company is queuing up the large amount in anticipation of a launch in early 2011. Combined with GSM models, as many as 21 million to 22 million iPhones could be produced in the last three months of the year.
Motorola on Monday officially released three new Ming-series handsets powered by Android. All are meant for the Chinese market, and include the Beihai MT810 for China Mobile’s TD-SCDMA network, the Qilin XT806 for China Telecom’s CDMA network, and the Lucky A1680 for China Unicom’s WCDMA network. Each features Chinese handwriting support for their touchscreens.
Apple's long rumored CDMA iPhone is now more than just a skunkworks project and has a codename, tips revealed this evening. John Gruber now understands that the device is known internally as N92 and is already at the Engineer Validation Test (EVT) stage. As just a step before the Design Validation Test (DVT) stage like that of the stolen iPhone 4, its progress is appropriate for the often-rumored January Verizon launch.
Apple is edging closer to a Verizon iPhone in January with a large order of CDMA chipsets, insiders reportedly said on Sunday. The company is queuing up "millions" of Qualcomm chipsets for a production run to start in December. The requests are coming early, TechCrunch said, as lead times for chips can often require months to generate enough supply, even when other components can be made more quickly.
Foxconn is building a new factory dedicated primarily to iPhone production in what could be a sign of Apple's expansion to other US carriers, reports from China's Xinhua News Agency claimed on Monday. The plant, which will start construction later this month, will be handled by the local subsidiary Futaihua Precision Electronics and already has workers. Over 500 workers are already producing iPhones on a rented line at another factory, the media outlet said.
China Telecom is interested in carrying the iPhone, even if it isn't a rush, claims an unnamed official from the carrier. "If we can have an iPhone, that would be good, but we'll just wait and see," the person comments. In May the company's CEO, Wang Xiaochu, said that the company might pursue the iPad in formal talks if market response proved adequate. To date over 3.27 million iPads have been sold globally.
China Telecom is reportedly reconsidering its previous stance regarding Apple products, as CEO Wang Xiaochu suggests the company is evaluating the market response for Apple's iPad before moving forward with formal talks, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
Low-key but persistent rumors have surfaced in recent days that suggest the CDMA iPhone may also reach Sprint. More than one source, usually working for Sprint, has pointed to the third-place carrier also getting the Apple device sometime in or near September. The few rumors surrounding production have usually corroborated this timeframe and imply the Sprint and Verizon versions would be ready at the same time.
Apple is likely to bring the cost of materials back up to where it was a year ago when it releases the next iPhone, according to an early estimate. While making a 16GB iPhone 3GS has dropped to about $156, the new model is expected by UBM TechInsights to go back up to between $169 to $175, or about as much as the previous phone did when new. The phone's biggest price hike would come from a higher resolution screen that could cost $25, or $9 more than it does now.
Pegatron has been contracted to make a CDMA iPhone, insiders claimed today. The scoop is short but would have the ASUS manufacturing arm building phones that would likely go to Verizon and possibly other carriers as well. A deal would help Pegatron take off as a major supplier, DigiTimes said.
More details have emerged of Apple's plans for a Verizon-ready iPhone. Some of the sources behind the previous story have since claimed that Apple has backtracked on its proclamation that CDMA was dead. The company "changed its mind" when it realized Verizon's move to 4G wouldn't be as quick as hoped, the insiders said.
UBS analyst Maynard Um on Tuesday provided possibly early insight into new iPhones based on "checks" within the industry. Without pointing to specific sources, he claimed new iPhones may have a backside touch surface not unlike the Motorola Backflip. Other estimates raise but don't confirm the possibilities of a 5-megapixel camera, as much as 64GB of storage, an AMOLED display and longer battery life.
The iPhone has not helped to rescue China Unicom's finances, says the Wall Street Journal. The carrier's net profit fell 73 percent in the last quarter, a setback mainly attributed to the costs of building out a new 3G network. The company only managed to record 4.1 million 3G subscribers towards the end of February; this leaves it behind both China Mobile and China Telecom.
Samsung has unveiled a new handset for its China market and only its third Android phone, the i899. The device is being made especially for China Telecom, the country's third biggest carrier and will support CDMA/EVDO networks. Like the Galaxy, it centers on a 3.2-inch AMOLED display but uses an older, less costly resistive touchscreen instead of the capacitive found on the Galaxy and Behold II.
Motorola has been developing a high-end full touchscreen phone that could give American CDMA carriers their first high-end, touch-only Android phone from the company. A pair of leaks show the XT800 to center on an 854x480, 3.7-inch touchscreen like that of the Droid but in a more rounded design. It should additionally be more powerful: it should play 720p video to a TV through an HDMI output and capture the same resolution for videos from its 5-megapixel camera.
Chinese wireless provider China Unicom said on Friday it will bring out the Uphone, which will closely resemble competitor China Mobile's Ophone Android phone. The Uphone will get its own version of the Android OS, called UniPlus, as well as its own Uphone app store. The app store will likely open before the first handsets ship in order to give developers a head start on populating the virtual shelves with their wares. The announcement was made by China Unicom Chairman Chang Xiaobing.
Nokia said on Wednesday it will soon bring three new CDMA handsets to its market in China. This includes the Nokia 6316s, Nokia 3806 and Nokia 1506. The 6316s is the most advanced device, sporting support for China Telecom's 3G data network, a built-in GPS receiver and media playback with dedicated controls on top of the slider.
Taiwan's handset manufacturer HTC is due to release an Android-powered smartphone in China in June, its chief executive Peter Chou told the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday. The phone will be a version of the Magic, the second Android-powered handset from HTC that went on sale in Europe recently, although with custom software from China Mobile, the world's biggest wireless provider, at about 500 million subscribers. With the Magic, HTC hopes to double its China sales to 1.6 million.
